Ronnie Dunn - Cost Of Livin'

We're only tracking half the cost of the Wuhan Virus.  We have meticulous (if somewhat suspect) data on the number of deaths; we have increasingly inaccurate data on the number of sick and the number of recovered.  There are big gaps in the data, but data are being collected and published.

But this is only half the story.  The country has been locked down, and a million people lose their jobs each day.  The Press is full of stories about people who are sick and their sufferings.  But when it comes to the unemployed Stalin's dictum is on full display: One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.

All we are told about the unemployed are the statistics - that hides the human face.  This song shows it.



Cost of Livin' (Songwriters: Ronnie Dunn, Phillip Coleman)

Everythin' to know about me
Is written on this page
A number you can reach me
My social and my age

Yes, I served in the army
It's where I learned to shoot
Eighteen months in the desert
Pourin' sand out of my boots

No, I've never been convicted of a crime
I could start this job at any time

I got a strong back, steel toes
I rarely call in sick, a good truck
What I don't know I catch on real quick
I work weekends, if I have to, nights and holidays

Give you forty and then some
Whatever it takes
Four dollars and change at the pump
The cost of livin's high and goin' up

I put Robbert down as a reference
He's known me all my life
We attend the same church
He introduced me to my wife

I gave my last job everythin'
Before it headed south
Took the shoes off of my children's feet
Food out of their mouths

Yesterday my folks offered to help
But they're barely gettin' by themselves

I got a strong back, steel toes
I rarely call in sick, a good truck
What I don't know I catch on real quick
I work weekends, if I have to, nights and holidays

Give you forty and then some
Whatever it takes
Three dollars and change at the pump
The cost of livin's high and goin' up

I'm sure a hundred others have applied
But rumor has it you're only takin' five

I got a strong back, steel toes
I'm handy with a wrench
There's nothin' I can't drive
There's nothin' I can't fix

I work sunup to sundown
Ain't too proud to sweep the floors
The bank has started callin'
And the wolves are at my door

Four dollars and change at the pump
The cost of livin's high and goin' up